The present invention relates to dressing change sets or kits enabling dressings, such as catheter dressings, to be changed in an aseptic manner.
It is known to be exceedingly important to carry out dressing change techniques, particularly in connection with catheter care, in an aseptic manner. Experience has shown that almost without exception deviation from such aseptic techniques leads to complications and septicemia.
Problems of this type are particularly encountered in connection with routine dressing changes such as those carried out for changing a central venous catheter dressing, or in connection with the care at the insertion site for any long-line venous catheter including subclavian, jugular, or brachial dressing changes.
A commonly known and rapdily growing long-line procedure is hyperalimentation or total parenteral nutrition. Conditions requiring total parenteral nutrition include carcinoma of the esophogus, carcinoma of the colon, severe peptic ulcer disease with gastric obstruction, prolonged ileus, enterocutaneous fistulae, peritoneal sepsis, biliary or pancreatic fistulae, regional enteritis, transmural and mucosal colitis, diverticulitis, intractable gastroenteritis, hypercatobolic response to major trauma or burns, comatose patients, anorexia nervosa and short bowel syndrome during period of intestinal adaptation.
The average patient placed on total parenteral nutrition remains on it for 20-22 days and requires a dressing change every other day.
Although dressing change sets or kits are already known for the above purposes, the known kits suffer from certain drawbacks. Thus, with conventional sets or kits of the above general type, certain problems are encountered in connection with possible contamination resulting from contact with a previously applied dressing which is removed. Also, previously known kits for the above general purposes do not include the total number of items required for a complete dressing change. Thus, problems are encountered in connection with provision of a suitable container for antiseptic solutions, and in addition to the kits themselves it is necessary to utilize other equipment such as suitable cutting tools required for cutting gauze pads, adherent tapes, and the like. Even if such a kit does include a cutting tool of this type, in the form of a scissors, for example, difficulty is encountered in connection with preventing movement of such a cutting tool with respect to the kit during transportation and handling thereof.